COUGARS

A Friday at home. What a concept. After next week's bye, the Cougars will be on the road for three consecutive games. And they'll see a lot of different hotels. But for now, it's homecoming (though it would have been more appropriate to make the UCLA game Nov. 14 that event) week and we have links. Read on.

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• Washington State: We had a Simpson's handful of items yesterday, from a basketball post to our story, the director's cut of which you can find here. Plus we had notes from practice and earlier in the day. ... John Blanchette has put together a drinking game for you to play while you listen to the radio broadcasts of Cougar football. ... And, finally, there's this opponent preview at CougCenter.

• Around the Pac-10: The Times' Bud Withers has his Pac-10 rankings and picks. ... Buster Sports' Nick Daschel tries occasionally to figure out the conference's bowl lineup. Here's his most recent attempt. ... Washington: The safety position is decimated by injuries. ... Will Jake Locker be back next year? Maybe he should call Sam Bradford. ... Oregon State: The Beavers will be facing the latest Heisman Trophy darkhorse, Toby Gerhart, this week. ... Oregon: LaMicheal James has done a nice job since taking over for the Ducks at running back. ... Cal: Bears aren't panicking, they are just changing their usual bye week pattern. ... Stanford: More on the Gerhart Heisman hype. ... USC: There seems to be some really good news on the Stafon Johnson front. ...UCLA: Struggling a bit on offense, the Bruins might turn to a couple freshmen wideouts to speed things up. ... Arizona State: Brock Osweiler is the most popular guy in Tempe. ... The Sun Devils may be without a top kick returner and starting corner. ... Arizona: The Wildcats know about Jake Locker. He's hurt them before. But now they are worried about his supporting cast.

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• That's it for this morning. We'll be back with our game day items and the short preview story we do. Until then …

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